I have come across an interesting event involving a Joshua Vickery in the History of Hampton Falls by W. Brown (p. 613). In 1768 he was seized by a mob in Newburyport suspected of informing the British Costumes office (at Portsmouth) about alleged smuggling in violation and defiance of the Stamp Act. He was placed in the stocks, paraded around town, possibly tarred and feathered and placed, handcuffed, in a warehouse through Sunday to await trial with "...no person but his wife allowed to visit him." He was eventually found innocent. A more complete account appeared in the Essex Gazette, Sept. 13-20, 1768 and Sept. 20-27, 1768 and is reprinted in The Essex Antiquarian, V. II, pp 109-110. The Hampton Falls history goes on to provide the following information: "Joshua Vickery came to this town during or soon after the Revolutionary War. He lived on the southeast side of Cock hill, on the south side of the road, upon land now owned by John N. Sandborn. He was said to have been a seaman in his early days. He was a good penman, and reputed to have been a good citizen. His name disappears from the record in 1792." Now, there are few records to establish the identity of this Joshua Vickery or his place of origin. All I can find is: a record of birth for Samuel (1756) and Judith (1757) Vickery to Joshua in Bell's History of Exeter, NH.; A record of a marriage in 1772 to Elizabeth Flood "of Hampton, NH" in the Newbury, MA Vital Records; A record of birth for a Samuel Gilman Vickery, s. Joshua (1774) in the Newburyport Vital Records; A reference to the marriage of Samuel Gilman Vickery "...son of Joshua and Elizabeth (Flood) Vickery..."to Mary Allen (NEHGR, V. 135, p. 129). Otherwise the record is silent. But note: The Newburyport event of refers to a wife--this implies a prior marriage than the one of record to Elizabeth Flood. I suspect the following: Joshua may be the son of Elijah Vickery of Exeter, NH. A Gilman Genealogy (at NEHGS) states that Hannah Gilman (Joshua3, Moses2, Edward1) married Elijah Vickery. She was born 1712. The only Vickery in any record named Elijah is the son of Israel2 Vickery (George1) and Judith (Hersey) of Hull/Hingham, MA. He was born 1709 making him about the same age as Hannah Gilman. There are ties to the Hersey family of Hingham and the Gilmans--Joshua married Mariah Hersey, Judith Hersey's cousin. This would make Elijah Vickery and Hannah Gilman second cousins. An internet source claims that Joshua Vickery was b. 1731 and that his mother was a Gilman. There was no support given for the claim, but then, there is no record of a birth for Joshua. I suspect unrecorded children for Elijah Vickery for an additional reason: Bell lists four children of record for Elijah Vickery of Exeter, all female, from 1746-1754. Thus the Vickery surname should end in this location--but it doesn't. An Elijah is listed among those serving in the Rev War (making him 66 at the earliest date) and a birth is recorded for Elijah and Lydia Vickery in 1782 (making our known Elijah 72). It is plausible that there are unrecorded male children for Elijah and Hannah. It is also plausible that Joshua is one of them and that he also had unrecorded children by his first wife, whoever she was (a claim is made for Mary Haley, but I find no evidence for this either.) Does anyone have any information or suggestions? Naming patterns, locations and dates are the best circumstantial evidence I have at the time linking all of these people to a single family beginning with Elijah and Hannah (Gilman) Vickery. I'm trying to connect this to the only known re-emergence of an Elijah Vickery in Taunton, MA. Rev War archives fix his dob at 1759 (but no place or parents mentioned). It is clear that he can not be the Rev War Elijah from NH--possibly cousin. By elimination: no other branch of the Vickerys of Hull produces any male children named Elijah--not those that stay in Hull, not those that migrate to Maine, not those that relocate to the Cape, not those that drift to Rehoboth, not those that remove to Mendon, and not those that claim NH land in the Narragansett tract #5 who settle around Merrimack. There is only one Elijah line, and I think Joshua is the key and Exeter NH (or environs) to by the locked door. The story of his arrest is neat anyway. An interesting bit of American history. George Branigan